‘VISIT ME IN MY DREAMS’: LEBANESE MOTHER MOURNS HER CHILD KILLED IN ISRAELI STRIKE
▶ The killing of five-year-old Amal has sparked outrage in the country, writes
In a home in Tyre in southern Lebanon, family members are gathered to mourn Amal Al Dorr, five, who was killed in an Israeli air strike in Majdal Zoun on Wednesday.
The family living room is crowded with women mourning the death of the little girl, but Amal’s mother, Fardous Saeed, is unaware of anyone around her.
Her eyes remain locked on a picture of Amal as she continues to mourn her daughter.
“What can I say about Amal? What can I possibly say? Look at her eyes; they speak for themselves,” Ms Saeed says.
“My love, please come visit me in my dreams,” Ms Saeed says, her voice cracking as she sheds more tears for her daughter.
“You used to call me, ‘my heart’, but don’t call me ‘my heart’ when you come, because my heart has died, Amal. They buried my heart. It’s gone. I’m just a body without a soul.
“I’m only standing for your sisters, Zaynouba and Mariam, who witnessed your death, who saw me carrying you. I hope they forget everything they saw. Has anyone else carried their daughter like I did? My heart, you were only five,” she said, holding her two daughters, who survived the attack.
“I hope no one else loses their child like I did. I’m willing to suffer alone from now on, as long as I’m the last one.
“Amal, my love, my soul, my daughter, my everything.”
Amal is the seventh child to be killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon as Hezbollah and Israeli forces continue to exchange fire on the border. Hezbollah first launched strikes on October 8 after Israel bombarded Gaza in response to Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7, which killed about 1,200 people, with about 240 taken hostage.
Since October 7, a ground offensive from Israel has killed more than 29,600 Palestinians and left millions displaced.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has warned that the enclave is on the “edge of a monumental disaster”.
As the war in Gaza continues, Israel has intensified its strikes in Lebanon amid accusations from Human Rights Watch of “unlawful strikes” and “apparent indiscriminate and deliberate attacks on civilians”.
Amal and her family fled Majdal Zoun, a small town only a couple of kilometres from the border, to Tyre in a bid to shelter from the strikes, her relatives tell The National.
They are among 70,000 displaced from the southern border, who sought refuge. However, four months into the war, Amal’s family decided to return for a holiday to visit their relatives.
“Amal insisted on visiting us, she said she missed us.
“The weather was nice, she wanted to play,” her aunt, Manal Al Dorr, says.
Amal, her parents, and sisters were visiting Ms Al Dorr when the strike happened.
“I hugged her, kissed her, and played with her in the house,” Ms Al Dorr says.
“Then she said goodbye and she left the house to get lunch at her grandmother’s.”
As Amal left, an Israeli rocket struck a building next door killing her and their neighbour, Khadija Salman, who had been sitting outside with Amal’s mother and sisters.
“Everything happened in a second. And she was gone.”
Ms Al Dorr recalls a scene of chaos outside her house after the strike.
Amid the smoke and the destruction, she saw Amal and knew that she would not survive.
She died shortly after from the injuries she sustained.
“There is no safety any more. We used to be stronger, but now we’re scared,” she says, her voice suddenly stopping as a distant blast sounded and smoke billowed from the hills in the background.
Mourners in her house looked to the balcony to see smoke rising from an Israeli strike on a nearby border town.
“We’re used to it now,” the aunt says before continuing about her business.
Tyre is safer than the southern border, which is hit on an almost daily basis by Israel, but the looming threat of fullscale war is constantly reminded to residents by the distant Israeli shelling.
Cross-border violence has killed 276 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters.
The strikes have also killed 44 civilians, according to an AFP tally. Israel’s army says 10 of its soldiers and six Israeli civilians have been killed.
“The blood of Amal is a symbol of Israel’s continuing crimes,” Amal’s uncle, Hassan, told The National.
“We don’t want war; we love life. We’re only defending ourselves from those who are killing our innocent children. “Amal represents all of the Lebanese people, and we hope she’s the last victim for our country.”
Majdal Zoun had been fired at before, but residents in the village said that the weeks before Amal was killed had been calm.
Many were left shocked by the sudden attack on the village. They say that the small town is a residential area with no Hezbollah fighters.
“It’s a huge shock for everyone; it’s like the whole neighbourhood has lost a daughter,” says a neighbour and friend of Amal’s mother.
Her house was also damaged in the strike. She sustained minor injuries in the attack. She is pregnant.
The conversation is once again interrupted by shelling a few kilometres away.
In the distance, the sound of drones flying at low altitudes can be heard.
“Be careful, they are targeting everyone, just like they’re targeting us.
“We’re all civilians here,” she adds, standing a few metres from where Amal was killed.
The Israeli army said it had hit “a Hezbollah operational command centre in the area of Mansouri”, a village a few kilometres from Majdal Zoun. It was “reviewing” claims that civilians were killed as a result of its air strike.
Hezbollah said it responded to “Israeli attacks on civilian villages and homes, especially … in Majdal Zoun”, by firing Katyusha rockets at Matzuva, a kibbutz in northern Israel.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said its fighter jets struck Hezbollah launch posts and infrastructure in the Jabal Blat area of southern Lebanon.
A Hezbollah observation post was also struck near Ayta ash Shab. Israeli artillery struck “in order to remove threats in the areas of Hanine and Marwahin in southern Lebanon,” it added.
With hostilities at the border showing no immediate signs of ending, and diplomatic negotiations seemingly stalled, many in Majdal Zoul fear that civilian casualties will continue to rise.
Despite the continued strikes, many in Majdal Zoul have vowed to remain. Said, 73, who is a neighbour and friend of Amal’s family, says that he will continue to live in his home. “I will stay here no matter what happens.”
Israel has demanded Hezbollah withdraw its forces to 30km from the border and have threatened to continue military operations if the condition is not met. Hezbollah has refused to negotiate as long as Israel’s war in Gaza continues.
I hope no one else loses their child like I did. I’m willing to suffer alone from now on
FARDOUS SAEED
Amal’s mother